Student volunteer social support and infant intervention: A case study

The emphases in infant mental health have been in the three areas of supporting the mother-infant dyad through education, psychotherapy to help parents resolve emotional conflicts that interfere with the parent-infant interaction, and support during the acute crisis that follows an abnormal birth. The case described herein involves a child with a genetic defect born to competent parents, a chronic stressful situation that does not fit these categories. It became apparent in the first few months after the birth that both the child and parents were in need of some help in coping with the situation. An intervention was designed to help provide both the necessary stimulation for the baby and the needed emotional support for the family, while it acknowledged their skill and competencies as parents. This was done through the help of college student volunteers, who assisted the mother in the home. Developmental data recorded at birth, 7 months, 12 months, and 39 months indicate that the child is severely multiply handicapped. Interview data with the parents at those times document their personal and family difficulties, the eventual resolution as a family in dealing with this problem, and the importance of the volunteer help during that process.     

Social support from a friend,perceived support,and social problem solving

This research combined experimental and correlational methods to investigate the effects of social support on social problem-solving effectiveness and perceived stress. During a wait period, college students were given the opportunity to work on practice items from a mildly stressful social problem-solving task, either alone or in the company of a close friend. Participants and friends were allowed to talk about the practice items but were not required to do so, and supportive transactions were tape recorded and content analyzed. All students then completed social problem-solving and perceived stress items alone. Participants who waited with friends did not show superior problem-solving effectiveness unless companions provided particular supportive behaviors. Participants with high perceived support scores rated the experiment as less stressful than those with low scores, but perceived support was not related to companions' actual supportive behaviors. The results were discussed in terms of implications for understanding the mechanisms of social support.     

The reliability of aggregated measurements: Lessons to be learned from psychometric theory

In a recent article, H. D. Day, D. Marshall, B. Hamilton, and J. Christy (1983, Journal of Research in Personality, 17, 97–109) have reported on a series of simulation studies designed to investigate properties of various coefficients of behavior stability as applied to cross-situational data. The results of their research have prompted them to suggest precautions regarding the measurement of behavioral regularity with conventional indices of response consistency. A critical review of their paper reveals aspects of the data, procedures, and interpretations of Day et al. (1983) which undermine many of their conclusions. Notable problems include (a) inappropriate comparisons of internal consistency reliability coefficients based on nonparallel analyses, (b) anomalous data which may be due to errors of rounding or recording, and (c) the failure to recognize certain assumptions underlying reliability estimation. More importantly, it is shown that the investigation of Day et al. (1983) represents primarily an empirical verification of several measurement principles for which algebraic proofs are amply documented.     

Developing effective social support: Team building and the social support process

Abstract

Team members who provide each other with several types of social support (e.g., listening support, reality confirmation support, and task appreciation support) offer each other the opportunity to increase their physical and emotional well-being. Also, teams that employ strategies to enhance their social support as part of a team-building intervention are more likely to build a working, achieving, successful organization, one with effective communication and a shared commitment to team goals and a team vision of success. This article presents a rationale for enhancing the development of team social support, describes the social support process and a measurement tool based on the characteristics of that process, outlines strategies for maintaining and enhancing student-athletes' social support, and concludes with comments regarding intervention evaluation.     

Correlates of social support: Personal characteristics and social resources

This study attempted to identify potential determinants of receiving support using multivariate analysis. A community probability sample of 581 adults were surveyed. In addition to recording demographic variables and social support receipt, extraversion and locus of control were measured as personal characteristics; being married and numbers of confidants were recorded as social resources indicators. We found that (1) gender, education, extraversion, locus of control and social resources had direct effects on social support receipt; (2) education also had an indirect effect through locus of control, whereas extraversion had indirect effects through both locus of control and sod resources. Roles of personal characteristics and social resources in determining social support receipt were discussed.     

Behavioral manifestations of social support: a microanalytic investigation

This study was designed to examine the specific interpersonal behaviors that convey support from one person to another. Subjects were 41 undergraduate students who completed a general measure of perceived social support and, subsequently, kept daily records of their social interactions and stressful experiences for 14 days. In addition, they completed a brief depressive mood measure (DACL; Lubin, 1981) each day. Results showed that behaviors reflecting emotional support and informational support occurred as a specific response to stressful life events. Although esteem support was expressed with equal frequency in the presence and absence of stress, it was especially effective in preventing depressive reactions to stressful events. Subjects who perceived themselves as having high levels of perceived social support were more frequently the recipients of helping behaviors following stressful events than those low in perceived support. Perceived social support was only predictive of helping behaviors on days on which at least one stressful event occurred. The total number of helping behaviors received following stressful events was a significant negative predictor of level of depressive mood, although one helping behavior was associated with higher levels of depression. Results are interpreted within the framework of the buffering model of social support.     

Perceived social support from family and friends: measurement across disparate samples

This research investigates the psychometric properties of the Perceived Social Support (PSS; Procidano & Heller, 1983) from family and friends across three samples: a chronic-psychiatric sample, a diabetic sample, and an undergraduate college student sample. Comparisons of internal consistency, central tendency, and dispersion for both the perceived family support (PSS-FA) and the perceived friend support (PSS-FR) are reported, as are the relationships between these two scales for each group. Correlations with general health status and psychiatric symptomatology are also reported. The utility of this measure for generalizable research on social support is discussed.     

Satisfaction with social support and depressive symptoms: a panel analysis

The literature suggests that persons who are dissatisfied with the amount of social support that has been provided to them may subsequently suffer from psychological disorder. At the same time, there is evidence that individuals who initially suffer from emotional disorder may consequently be less satisfied with their social support systems than may persons who enjoy better mental health. The purpose of this study was to test these competing hypotheses with panel data from a community survey of older adults. The findings indicate that changes in satisfaction with support tend to precede changes in depressive symptoms. A number of issues in the analysis of longitudinal data are discussed.     

The relationship between adolescents' social support from parents and from peers

This study investigated the relationship between adolescents' social support from parents and from peers. Three hypotheses were tested. The first hypothesis was that adolescents who experience little parental support will compensate with support from peers. A negative correlation would thus be expected between perception of parental support on the one hand, and support from peers on the other. The second hypothesis was that lack of parental support will not be compensated by peer support, because such compensation is impossible. Thus, there would be no correlation. The third hypothesis was that adolescents in these circumstances lack the opportunity or ability to gain social support from anyone, including peers. A positive correlation would therefore be expected. These hypotheses were tested in a sample of 1,528 urban Dutch secondary school students (aged 14-16 years) who were in the third year of an intermediate educational stream. Analysis indicated that Hypothesis 1 was not substantiated. The results also argued against Hypothesis 3 and in favor of Hypothesis 2.     

Finding stable support for computing in psychology: Lessons from innovation diffusion in organizations

We present the steps that the Psychology Department, the Academic Computing Center (ACC), and the central administration at St. Olaf College have taken to integrate computing support into the operating budget of the college. In hindsight, we also propose a model of the diffusion of innovations into an organization as a theoretical guide to stabilizing support for computing in academic departments. The theoretical framework highlights the commonality between our particular adaptations and those that would most help at other institutions.     

Factors affecting support after criminal victimization: needed and received support from the partner, the social network, and distant support providers

Needed and received support among victims of crime in the Netherlands was examined. Support was measured 2 weeks, 1 month, and 2 months after the crime incidents. Respondents answered questions about 3 groups of support providers: their partners, their social networks, and their distant support providers. Results indicated that partners were the most important support suppliers. Respondents who indicated that their partners' support had been insufficient suffered a deterioration of their well-being. Victims received sufficient support from their social networks. Receiving less support than needed was associated with low well-being, both before and after the crime. Victims indicated they needed the least support from distant support providers and that the little support required from them had not been received.     

The relationship between social anxiety and social support in adolescents: a test of competing causal models

This study compared the strength of competing causal models in explaining the relationship between perceived support, enacted support, and social anxiety in adolescents. The social causation hypothesis postulates that social support causes social anxiety, whereas the social selection hypothesis postulates that social anxiety causes social support. The reciprocal model combines the two hypotheses by arguing that the causal relationship between social support and social anxiety is largely reciprocal. This study tests a modification of the reciprocal model by specifying perceptions of support as a mediating construct. Two waves of data with an interval of three months were collected on 357 college students. Structural equation modeling was used to compare the reciprocal and mediated reciprocal causal models. The study found some support for the mediated reciprocal model, but the magnitude of the relationships were weaker than expected. Limitations and suggestion for future research are discussed.     

Relation of depression to perceived social support: results from a randomized adolescent depression prevention trial

Theorists posit that certain behaviors exhibited by depressed individuals (e.g., negative self-statements, dependency, reassurance seeking, inappropriate or premature disclosures, passivity, social withdrawal) reduce social support, yet there have been few experimental tests of this hypothesis. Using data from a randomized depression prevention trial (N = 253) involving adolescents (M age = 15.5, SD = 1.2), we tested whether a cognitive behavioral group intervention that significantly reduced depressive symptoms relative to bibliotherapy and educational brochure control conditions through 2-year follow-up produced improvements in perceived parental and friend social support and whether change in depressive symptoms mediated the effect on change in social support. Cognitive behavioral group participants showed significantly greater increases in perceived friend social support through 1-year follow-up relative to bibliotherapy and brochure controls, but there were no significant effects for perceived parental support. Further, change in depressive symptoms appeared to mediate the effects of the intervention on change in perceived friend support. Results provide experimental support for the theory that depressive symptoms are inversely related to perceived social support, but imply that this effect may be specific to friend vs. parental support for adolescents.     

Perceived and capitalization support are substantially similar: implications for social support theory

Social support is typically thought to protect people from bad events, whereas capitalization support augments people's reactions to good events. Because social support and capitalization support apply to different classes of events, most theory predicts that measures of perceived support and capitalization support should be empirically distinct. We tested a new theory that hypothesizes that the main effects between perceived support and mental health do not reflect stress and coping primarily, but instead reflect ordinary, yet affectively consequential conversations and shared activities, some of which include positive events. According to this view, perceived support and capitalization support should be substantially correlated, should have similar links to other constructs, and their links to favorable affect should overlap, yet not be completely redundant. In three samples, results were consistent with the new theory, when correlations reflected social influences. When correlations reflected trait influences, perceived and capitalization support showed greater overlap.     

Differences in social support among retirees and workers: findings from the Normative Aging Study

Cross-sectional differences between retirees and workers in the importance of coworkers as a source of support, as well as in general quantitative support (social networks and frequency of interaction) and qualitative support (confidants and the perceived reliability of support) were examined. The sample consisted of 1,513 older men (mean age = 61), participants in the Normative Aging Study. Half (56%) were working, and the rest were retired. Slightly fewer retirees than workers reported coworker friends, especially among those who were long-term retirees or who did not work at all in retirement. Whereas similar findings were seen with quantitative support, workers and retirees reported nearly identical levels of qualitative support. However, retirees almost never discussed personal problems with former coworkers. The relevance of these findings for the convoy construct is discussed.     

HIV infection and drug users: Setting up support groups

The emergence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection has highlighted the need for the development of risk reduction strategies among drug users. A network of support and self help, whilst fully developed among gay men, has been slow to develop with drug users. Possible reasons for this are examined. Examples of this type of approach in Britain and other countries are reviewed. The positive aspects of encouraging the development of self help groups are discussed. The lesons learned from the first 6 months of a drug users support group are described.